Opposites Attract
by WinglessTenshii
Summary: Ino and Neji were never close. They were above acquaintances but they couldn't exactly be called friends either. So why was she becoming so aware of him? Why was her heart beating so fast around him? Must be the weather. It had to be. (Sucky Summary haha what can I say I'm no good at those lol :P)


Yamanaka Ino sighed loudly as she aimlessly walked along the busy streets of Konohagakure, something she hadn't done in a while and since the flower shop closed early today, she decided to use that to her advantage. Her last customer that day had been Naruto, and too see him walk nervously into the shop with a slight blush on his face to order some flowers was, Ino had to admit, quite cute not to mention shocking because he never bothered to step foot in the shop before much less to order flowers. She wanted to tease him till thy kingdom come but unfortunately, he already looked way to uncomfortable and to make that worse would be torture.

When Ino had left the shop earlier she didn't expect to end up wandering around the village like a lost, mindless puppy but yet she ended up unconsciously embracing the act because all of her friends were either out on missions or were occupied with far more important things than hanging out with her. Shikamaru was somewhere about the place with Temari who was visiting from Suna for business and Chouji was with his dad having some sort of clan training. She sighed again.

"I wonder if Neji is back from his mission yet." The blonde mused out loud, her index finger tapping her chin gently.

"Wait…why do I even care?!" She questioned herself, eyebrow twitching in annoyance as she gave a frustrated grunt. Ino didn't know why but ever since the war she had been thinking a tad bit too much of the Hyuuga boy than she would've liked. Even though he was alive now she couldn't help the way she was plagued by his death back then and sometimes even now. And that was almost three years ago! She had started to become more aware of him than before, noticing subtle things that she never did and trying her best at getting him to open up more and lose the I've-got-a-stick-up-my-ass attitude, not that it was really working of course. Neji was…_difficult_. But that only meant that she had to try harder.

"The hell am I thinking? If he wants to act like he's got a stick up his rear every minute, what the heck does that have to do with me?!" She argued with herself.

"Who's acting like they've got a stick up their ass?"_Speak of the devil_ Ino thought as she jolted out of her perpetual stupor and swiveled her body so fast to face the owner of the familiar voice, that if she wasn't a trained shinobi, she would've fallen to the ground like a helpless fool.

"N…N…Neji!" She exclaimed, eyes wide and her heart beating rapidly from being startled, though that wasn't the only reason.

"You…You startled me!" She backed up, pointing an accusing finger in his direction before she calmed and let a sigh of relief escape through her lips.

"Did I now?" Neji smirked, regarding her silently before continuing, "…I do apologize for that. Startling you wasn't my intention." Ino wanted to ask the brunet what exactly his intentions were but quickly decided against it, opting to ask him something else instead.

"What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? Well…if I'm not mistaken, I live here. So the question is…what are you doing here Yamanaka-san?" He queried ruefully and a small grin graced his face but disappeared as soon as it appeared that Ino could've sworn she'd imagine it. She internally giggled at the way he addressed her. She was always amused with the way he addressed her so formally. It was weird to hear someone call her Yamanaka-san when most people just called her Ino. Begrudgingly, Ino silently admitted that she wanted him to call her Ino. Naruto was such a lucky bastard.

"Huh? You live where…" The girl trailed off, finally noticing her surroundings and realizing how far her feet had strayed while she was caught up in the depths of her own mind. She was standing in front of the entrance to the Hyuuga compound.

"Oooooh…" She sounded out trying to avoid the Jounin's face which she was sure possessed a smirk

"Did you by chance want to speak with Lady Hinata?" Neji asked with a grave expression. Ino swallowed hard with the sudden change in his not too long ago, playful tone of voice.

"No…I was only passing by." She provided with a small smile.

"Really?" He arched a lone eyebrow in her direction and she looked at him with a small frown.

"Yeah." She answered indifferently.

"Is that so?" Now he was pushing her buttons! Why was he making it sound like she was lying when she knew she wasn't? Straightening her stance, Ino placed her hand on her hips, taking on a serious demeanor and opened her mouth to get ready to tell Neji just how far that stick was up his ass but he beat her to the talking.

"…Because as far as I know, walking around the compound about four times is not really considered 'passing by'…" He commented sardonically and Ino gasped, mouth hanging open, the words on her tongue that were itching to make its way out in volumes now forgotten.

"Four times?! I did not…wait…or maybe I did. I don't know but what's it to you?" She challenged voraciously, pale blue eyes firm and serious, meeting with white ones that were calm and collected.

"I think it would worry anyone from any clan or not, if a stranger was roaming around their grounds. You never can tell what their hidden agenda might be. And personally, though I think everyone shares my sentiment, it's better to be safe than sorry…" Ino wanted to agree with him but decided not to because she wasn't roaming and she wasn't a stranger! So she just stood there motionless, gaping like a fish.

"You know, it's not polite to stare, especially with your mouth hanging open like that." He pointed out in mock humor and Ino closed her mouth and looked away, forcing back an embarrassed blush that was threatening to shamelessly cover her cheeks, in futile attempt that is.

"Oh yeah?! Well-" the blonde was about to finish her retort but was cut of rather rudely by a stiff looking Neji. _Heh. Must be that stick again! _She thought with a silent laugh.

"I was just about to indulge myself in a bowl of ramen, would you like to join me since you obviously have nothing better to do…" Ino thought of a whole lot of answers she could've responded with but instead she let a sultry smile grace her face._ A little teasing could never hurt, right?_

"You know Neji, you might want to watch how you asked that question, because my little mind might get the wrong idea and think that you're asking me out on a date." She warned, walking ahead of him and then paused to look at his still form from over her shoulders. The Hyuuga grinned unrepentantly and in no time was at her side.

"Maybe I am…" Ino couldn't hold back the blush this time and a nice flaming shade of red covered her cheeks. Was he really? Was he really asking her out on a date?! The thought alone made her heart speed up, much to her distaste. She didn't even realize that she had stopped walking and was eyeing the ground intently. What was this? This strange feeling in the pit of her stomach at the thought of Neji asking her out. Could…Could it be? Could it be that- Her thoughts were interjected by Neji's voice.

"But there's no need to worry, it's not a date so stop your mind from getting the wrong idea at once." And the little chibi Ino flying around in joy in her head as mercilessly shot down. Not wanting to show that his words affected her, though she didn't understand why they did, she looked up at him and grinned.

"Well that's a shame…" She brushed his shoulder gently with hers, walking slightly ahead of him missing the low guttural sound his throat made. Now that her fun was over and they fell into an unbearable silence, Ino forced herself to break it, though a small part of her wanted Neji to be the one to do it.

"Say Neji?"

"Yes?"

"I didn't know you liked ramen…I always thought that it was a Naruto thing…" She told him with a small smile, remembering the flustered blond from earlier.

"There are quite a lot of things you don't know about me," He responded and she pondered on his answer a little before responding herself. "…so it seems…" She stole a quick glance at him before looking ahead as they fell into silence once more. His face was expressionless like it always was, his eyes unreadable. She never knew what he was thinking or could never tell for that matter but it always comforted her to know that she wasn't the only one.

"I actually do like ramen…but I don't eat as much of it or as frequently as Naruto does. He just takes it to a whole new level." She heard him say after some time and her head jerked toward his face in surprise. She had honestly thought the conversation dead. And then she smiled warmly.

"Naruto takes everything to a whole other level…" Ino was glad. She was glad that Neji had actually opened up enough to share something about himself with her. He was comfortable enough to share a part of himself with her and she quite liked it, silently hoping that if he opened up again, it would also be with her.

"Arigatou, Neji."

"For what?"

"Just…thank you…"


End file.
